5 Home windows 11 settings I instantly change on any new PC

Every time I carry out a clear set up of

Windows 11
on my desktop or arrange a brand new laptop computer, the very first thing I deal with is adjusting the Home windows settings that hinder my productiveness, privateness, and general enjoyment of the OS.

Do not get me unsuitable, Home windows 11 has some

excellent features
proper out of the field. Nevertheless, sure default settings and options could be exceptionally annoying and detract from the person expertise,

with Copilot
and the usual notification settings being key examples. All these settings could be simply adjusted — you need not obtain a third-party app or modify any registry settings — and are accessible to any Home windows person.

5

Change your default browser

You may change different app defaults as nicely

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

By default, once you boot up Home windows 11 for the primary time, Microsoft units Edge as your default browser. Whereas I recognize Microsoft’s adjustments through the years to Edge, it is nonetheless not so good as Chrome or different standard browsers like Firefox. One of many first issues I do on any new PC after setting it up is immediately obtain Chrome to exchange Edge.

To vary your default browser, head to Apps > Default Apps > Google Chrome (or no matter your browser of alternative is) and click on Set default. With this enabled, you may be redirected to your new default browser as an alternative of Edge everytime you click on on a hyperlink. In the identical default apps menu, you may as well change different default apps for Home windows 11, comparable to your media participant for video recordsdata, which I all the time swap to VLC media player as an alternative of the default Home windows Media Participant.

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4

Scale back the quantity of notifications you obtain

I do not want notifications for ideas Microsoft

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

Home windows 11 can ship quite a lot of notifications that rapidly change into overwhelming or distracting once you first begin utilizing it. If you end up receiving too many notifications, whether or not from apps or what Microsoft refers to as “Suggestions,” you may cut back them to remain extra centered and declutter your notification heart.

To do that, go to Settings > Notifications. You may then modify which apps ship you notifications. You may kind them by not too long ago used, providing you with an thought of which apps you utilize essentially the most and may wish to maintain notifications enabled for. The primary apps I maintain enabled are Outlook, Slack, and Discord, primarily something communications-related.

Close to the underside of the notifications web page, you may discover Further settings. If you click on that, you may see three choices for Home windows that I like to recommend turning off, one in all which gives “ideas and recommendations when utilizing Home windows” that I discover irritating. My philosophy for Home windows is, if I would like to seek out one thing out, I will look it up, in any other case I do not want Home windows always recommending me issues to do.

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3

Say goodbye to Copilot

Sorry Microsoft, I do not want it

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

Microsoft is taking part in a giant half within the AI revolution with Copilot, its AI chatbot. With Home windows 11, Microsoft has positioned Copilot entrance and heart within the taskbar for customers to expertise. For those who’re not curious about AI or don’t need it getting in the best way, you may eliminate it.

If you wish to take away your Copilot out of your taskbar, merely right-click the icon and unpin it. If you wish to go a step additional and say goodbye to Copilot fully, you may uninstall the app by going to Settings > Apps > Copilot. Then click on the three dots subsequent to Copilot and choose Uninstall. There’s a separate Copilot for Microsoft 365 apps, so this may not have an effect on your capacity to make use of it in packages like Phrase or Excel if you wish to use it there.

When you’ve got a PC with a devoted Copilot key on the keyboard, you may as well rebind it to one thing else. To take action, obtain the Microsoft PowerToys app from the Home windows Retailer. If you open PowerToys, go to the Keyboard Supervisor submenu, then choose Remap a key to alter the Copilot key to one thing else.

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You can too reposition the Begin button again to the left

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

Copilot is not the one factor glued to your taskbar once you first boot up Home windows; the Information Widget can also be there. If you hover over the widget or click on on it, it brings up a panel with information, climate, and ads from MSN. I’ve by no means as soon as opened this widget on objective, nor do I ever plan to, and it feels extra like bloatware than something helpful. If I wish to see the information or the climate, I will examine my cellphone or look it up.

Fortunately, in the event you’d desire to see the Information Widget gone too, it is simple to eliminate. To take action, head to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar and switch off Widgets to disable it. It’s going to then disappear out of your taskbar for good. For those who’d desire to maintain the Information Widget round simply to see the climate in your taskbar, however not have it open once you merely hover over it, you may change that by opening the Information Widget and going to Settings > Open Widgets board on hover and toggling it off.

Moreover, in the event you’d desire to maneuver your begin button again to the left nook, prefer it was on Home windows 10 and lots of previous variations of Home windows, you are able to do that below Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar alignment and select Left.

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1

Modify privateness settings

Management how Microsoft makes use of your information

Pocket-lint / Microsoft

Every time I arrange a brand new laptop computer or carry out a recent set up of Home windows 11, my first intuition is to regulate my privateness settings. This offers me management over how and when Microsoft accesses my private information. I’m significantly against focused promoting, particularly in Home windows, which is why I deal with adjusting the settings to cease apps from utilizing my promoting ID. You are able to do this too by going to Settings > Privateness & Safety > Normal and disabling the choice that enables apps to point out customized adverts utilizing your promoting ID.

The subsequent privateness setting I modify is diagnostic data. Whereas sending restricted diagnostic information to Microsoft is required to maintain your system up to date and safe, you may select to ship non-compulsory diagnostic information, which incorporates “information about web sites you browse, how you utilize apps and options, and enhanced error reporting,” as per Microsoft. I desire to not ship any non-compulsory diagnostic information to Microsoft in any respect. To do that your self, head to Settings > Privateness & safety > Diagnostics and suggestions > Ship non-compulsory Diagnostic Knowledge, and switch it off.

Moreover, below Diagnostics & suggestions, I disable Tailor experiences, which lets Microsoft use your diagnostic information to “improve your product experiences with customized ideas, adverts, and suggestions.” That is a giant no thanks for me, so I additionally turned that off. For those who’re seeking to enhance the efficiency of your PC, then there are additionally settings you can disable to just do that.

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